Man sets himself on fire in Costa Mesa salon

March 24, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Costa Mesa police officers and Costa Mesa Fire Department personnel investigate an incident where a man set himself on fire, Sunday, March 24, 2013 at the Creative Nails & Spa, 3033 Bristol Street in Costa Mesa. The man was given aid by Costa Mesa Fire Department paramedics and transported to a local trauma center. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Costa Mesa police investigate an incident where a man set himself on fire, Sunday, March 24, 2013 at the Creative Nails & Spa, 3033 Bristol Street in Costa Mesa. The man was given aid by Costa Mesa Fire Department paramedics and transported to a local trauma center. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 3

Costa Mesa police officers and Costa Mesa Fire Department personnel investigate an incident where a man set himself on fire, Sunday, March 24, 2013 at the Creative Nails & Spa, 3033 Bristol Street in Costa Mesa. The man was given aid by Costa Mesa Fire Department paramedics and transported to a local trauma center. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Costa Mesa police officers and Costa Mesa Fire Department personnel investigate an incident where a man set himself on fire, Sunday, March 24, 2013 at the Creative Nails & Spa, 3033 Bristol Street in Costa Mesa. The man was given aid by Costa Mesa Fire Department paramedics and transported to a local trauma center. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

A man set himself on fire at a Costa Mesa nail salon Sunday after apparently arguing with his estranged wife, a witness told police.

It happened shortly after noon at Creative Nails & Spa, 3033 Bristol St., Costa Mesa police said. A spokesman referred to it as a domestic dispute.

The 46-year-old man was not identified. He was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana and treated for third-degree burns, police Lt. Bryan Glass said.

A longtime customer of the salon, Sherry Skipper-Spurgeon of Costa Mesa, said she saw the encounter unfold and gave an account.

Skipper-Spurgeon was sitting in a chair having her nails done by the store's manager, whom she knows only as Lina.

A man Skipper-Spurgeon said was Lina's husband came in and began screaming at Lina in Vietnamese.

"He had a bucket with him, and he takes the bucket and pours this whatever liquid over the top of his head," Skipper-Spurgeon said. "Then you could smell it, like gasoline."

There were two other customers in the salon at the time, a man and a woman, the witness said. Lina told her employees and customers to leave and said she would stay to try to reason with her husband. Skipper-Spurgeon said that the couple is going through a divorce and that the man "was really distraught." He continued to yell at Lina as the other customers and employees filed out, Skipper-Spurgeon said.

As Skipper-Spurgeon called 911, she saw the man sit down in the middle of the floor, in a puddle of liquid.

"Next thing you know, someone says 'He's got a lighter!' As I'm talking to the fire department, he lights himself on fire, and there's a fireball. The flames are completely covering his head, and then there's this poof of smoke."

The salon had had electrical problems in the morning, which had caused some equipment, such as a spa chair, to stop functioning, Skipper-Spurgeon said. So Lina had called her father and brother to try to fix the problems. They were in a back room when the episode began.

When the man lit himself on fire, the brother quickly doused the flames with a fire extinguisher, and employees, running back into the store, used towels to help smother the flames, Skipper-Spurgeon said.

Skipper-Spurgeon said she stayed and held Lina for an hour as the woman sobbed in her arms.

"This is absolutely devastating for her," she said. "She didn't know how she was going to tell her kids about this."

The couple have three children, Skipper-Spurgeon said.

There appeared to be little damage to the interior of the salon, police said.

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